Rome’s giant potholes

A refuse truck fell into a large pothole on Via di S. Francesco a Ripa in the Trastevere district of Rome on 24 September. The ground opened up under the Ama Roma truck, leaving the vehicle stuck in a hole measuring three metres deep and about three metres wide.

It is the latest in a series of about 50 giant potholes to open up around Rome since the beginning of this year. A similar incident occurred on 18 September, when the car of the deputy leader of the Popolo della Libertà (PdL), Alessandra Mussolini, nearly ended up in a large pothole on Via Spallanzani, near her dictator grandfather's former residence at Villa Torlonia.

On 10 September on Via Dulceri in Pigneto a 12m-wide and 8m-deep abyss swallowed two cars and cut off the street's water supply, while on 13 June a 12m-wide and 6m-deep pothole opened up on Via Leone XVIII near Villa Pamphilj.